Competition not new for Mercedes: "In 2018 Ferrari was also better than us"

After years of dominance, the Mercedes team finally seems to have a real rival. Red Bull Racing has done a better job this year, so the champion will be under serious attack once again.

2018

However, according to Andrew Shovlin, an engineer at the Mercedes team, being attacked is nothing new for the team. He cites 2018 as a shining example in this regard. That season, thanks to Ferrari, it even took until the fourth race before the Silver Arrows could chalk up a victory. " A few of those races we didn't have our act together, but in some races, Ferrari was just really better than us", Shovlin told The-Race.com.

"We've very definitely had tough years as well. So this season is certainly not new for us. Still, I think it's going to be a tough year." Ferrari nevertheless had to leave the title to Mercedes in 2018. This mainly due to some crucial mistakes made by Sebastian Vettel and the team as a whole.

Difficult Max

Toto Wolff also warned of the threat from Red Bull Racing. "Bahrain was not the strongest track for Red Bull anyway, and they usually start their seasons badly. That's not the case this year. So they are the strongest team in my opinion."

Shovlin added: "It's no secret that Red Bull is a sharp, strong team with good focus. They don't make many mistakes. Max is also a very mature and very smart racer at the moment. He is very difficult for us."